MikeF wrote:The biggest damage to roads is caused by utilities diggings. The reinstatement is usually extremely poor leaving the councils to receive the blame for the damage and carry out repair. Utilities should reinstate by complete resurfacing not shoddy trench filling that is the norm.
It's right that councils receive the blame for the damage because they (their Street Works Officers) are responsible for making the utilities reinstate the surface properly. If the council officer accepts crap, then that's their responsibility. .
thats theory, in practice councils can check only 1/3rd of the works and claim full compliance, and again its back then to its down to the public to complain and highlight the problems,
the annoying thing with this current bout of snow/ice is it will be the excuse trotted out when spring finally gets here and whats left of the roads will be patently clear and the fact the roads were already totally messed up will be conveniantly forgotten, it will be the beast of the east what did it.
On the subject of statutory undertakers digging up newly relaid roads, that's exactly what's happening here. We've just had a relatively major programme, relative to the size of the village that is, of the main road being closed to through traffic for a couple of weeks while it was all planed off and redone, all very nice and smooth. The gas supply network people have now started a programme of relaying gas pipes and digging a lot of it up again.
MikeF wrote:The biggest damage to roads is caused by utilities diggings. The reinstatement is usually extremely poor leaving the councils to receive the blame for the damage and carry out repair. Utilities should reinstate by complete resurfacing not shoddy trench filling that is the norm.
It's right that councils receive the blame for the damage because they (their Street Works Officers) are responsible for making the utilities reinstate the surface properly. If the council officer accepts crap, then that's their responsibility.
I think there's a time limit of something like 6 months when they can request the road to be repaired again if it fails. I don't think they can request that the road has to be completely resurfaced or that it has to last for x years and that's the main problem. Maybe someone has more details? The result is that road base or surface is not consistent and so faults develop.
Edit to add. This is a relevant document but there's a lot of reading!
Edit2 "The guarantee period shall begin on completion of the permanent reinstatement and shall run for two years, or three years in the case of deep openings. It should be noted that completion of the permanent reinstatement, rather than the giving of information to the Authority that the reinstatement is completed, is the event that triggers the start of the guarantee period. Failure to give this information is an offence under Section 70(6) of the Act."
Sounds simple until you look at the measurement parameters. I suspect that's where the problem is. There isn't enough staff to investigate and not enough money to challenge the undertakers, which is always a problem for councils - I have worked for one!
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
Utility companies are not normally allowed to do planned works within one years of a road being resurfaced, if the works were over 30 m in length, unless the works are emergency repairs for leaks etc or the ha agrees to it ( NRSWA section 58). The case above where the road was completely resurfaced may have been a condition of such a consent.
Utilities have six months to permantly reinstate the road surface after works are completed and have to provide a guarantee for two years, during which they are liable for any repairs. The guarantee period starts from the date of the permanent reinstatement rather than the date the hole was filled.
I was out riding yesterday, and again today. I don’t know which I prefer more, the old potholes full of snow, or the new potholes, that have been exposed by the thaw today. Some of the ‘borderline’ sections of tarmac I ride regularly, are now jiggered. It was fun dodging new potholes, old potholes, sludgy melting snow, and the idiots that have chanced coming back out in their **€# panzers today.
A couple of roads near me have been resurfaced. I mean properly and not that bodge job stuff they often do. One of them is my main cycling route too so I am well pleased to see my tax £s being spent on something I can directly benefit from. Well pleased
Username wrote:A couple of roads near me have been resurfaced. I mean properly and not that bodge job stuff they often do. One of them is my main cycling route too so I am well pleased to see my tax £s being spent on something I can directly benefit from. Well pleased
Username wrote:A couple of roads near me have been resurfaced. I mean properly and not that bodge job stuff they often do. One of them is my main cycling route too so I am well pleased to see my tax £s being spent on something I can directly benefit from. Well pleased
do you live near a local councillor?
It must be a local councillor of the correct stripe. I used to live near the local Green councillor, and I'm certain that the road maintenance round that way was deliberately delayed.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Username wrote:A couple of roads near me have been resurfaced. I mean properly and not that bodge job stuff they often do. One of them is my main cycling route too so I am well pleased to see my tax £s being spent on something I can directly benefit from. Well pleased
Username wrote:Never mind, just realised that link was for the London area.
Your local council should have a list of the councillors that have been elected for your local area (ward) lurking somewhere on their website.
There may be more than one & there can be more than one council - for example we are part of Bolton Borough & have councillors (there is often more than one for each ward) for that Council but we also have a town council, with much more limited powers, with its own council. So we get to elect two lots of councillors
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
Men dressed in day-glow yellow arrived this morning at about 10 am to repair the potholes outside my house. Work proceeded despite the two to three inches of snow that fell on Saturday and Sunday, and the further half inch dusting overnight. When they'd finished one of them took a picture of their work with his mobile phone. Presumably so that when the pothole reappears next week they will still get paid.
